EVALUATION OF GEOTHERMAL HOT DRY ROCK POTENTIAL IN THE UPPER RHINE VALLEY - EXPLORATORY BOREHOLE AT SOULTZ | | Project | Fact sheet | FP1 | CORDIS

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TO DRILL AN EXPLORATORY BOREHOLE AT HAGUENAU-SOULTZ, IN THE UPPER RHINE VALLEY, AS PART OF A COLLBORATIVE FRANCO-GERMAN STUDY OF THE POTENTIAL FOR GEOTHERMAL HDR DEVELOPMENT.
The European Geothermal Project involved teams from France and Germany who collaborated to test a site in the Upper Rhine Valley for its suitability for terrestrial heat mining (hot dry rock (HDR) energy production). Some British scientists participated in specific tasks.
The site was chosen near Soulz-sous-Forets in Alsace at the location of the old oil field of Pechelbronn which was the first oil field field exploited in Europe since the 18th century.
It is situated on 1 of the summits of a very large thermic anomaly (200 km long and 20 km wide) where the mean geothermal gradient between the surface and 1500 m is known to be higher than 6.5 C/100 m. The programme began in July 1987 with a 2000 m deep borehole.

Below at 1375 m thick sediment cover, the granitic basement was penetrated to a depth of 2000 m. The temperature at the bottom of the hole was 140 C. The geothermal gradient within the sediments was unusually high (10 C per 100 m) and diminished to a normal after a series of fractures inside the Bundsandstein producing some water at 116 C with a total salinity 98 g/l. At the depth of 1820 m, hydraulically active natural fissure was reached. The artesian outflow from this zone was 0.15 l/s, with well head pressure of 1.6 bars. The thermal water produced from the well had a high chloride contents and clearly had an identical origin with the fluid collected from the Buntsandstein just above the granite. During the water injection tests, a second active natural fissure was detected normally closed out but which seemed to aquire a noticeable permeability at a well head pressure of about 40 bars.
THE CONTRACT COVERS THE DRILLING AND TESTING OF A WELL TO PENETRATE AT LEAST 500 M INTO GRANITIC BASEMENT AT THE SITE OF THE KNOWN THERMAL ANOMALY AT SOULTZ. TD IS EXPECTED TO BE ABOUT 1800 M. TESTS WILL BE CARRIED OUT BOTH IN THE BUNTSANDSTEIN AND IN THE GRANITE WHICH IT OVERLIES. ONE OBJECTIVE OF THE WORK IS TO IDENTIFY THE CAUSE OF THE THERMAL ANOMALY, CURRENTLY BELIEVED TO BE DUE TO CONVECTION IN NATURAL FRACTURES IN THESE FORMATIONS. THE SEDIMENTARY SEQUENCE WILL THEN BE CASED AND LINED AT 7'', AND THE SITE MADE AVAILABLE FOR THERMAL AND HYDRAULIC TESTING BY OTHER PARTNERS IN THE PROJECT (SEE ALSO CONTRACT NOS. G0052D, G0055D, G0080D, G0081D AND G0082D). OTHER FRENCH TEAMS PARTICIPATING IN THE COLLABORATION WILL WORK AS SUB-CONTRACTORS TO THIS CONTRACTOR.
A NUMBER OF ABANDONED BOREHOLES ON THIS OLD OILFIELD WILL BE EXAMINED FOR THEIR SUITABILITY FOR THE EMPLACEMENT OF MICROSEISMIC DETECTORS, WHICH WILL BE USED TO MONITOR HYDRAULIC SIMULATION OF THE MAIN HOLE.

Programm/Programme

FP1-ENNONUC 3C - Research and development programme (EEC) in the field of Non-Nuclear Energy, 1985-1988

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Finanzierungsplan

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Koordinator

Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)

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